Hey Asu, It's Called Being Generous

Tamara Dietrich

If ever a school was overmatched, it's a bewildered Salem High football team in Virginia Beach pitted against Arizona State University and its lineup of corporate attorneys.

ASU sent legal notice to Salem instructing the school to cease and desist using the name Sundevils for its football team.

The Tempe college claims that "Sundevils" is a trademark infringement upon its own "Sun Devils" brand, and apparently has been for the 18 years that Salem has been using it.

Never mind that the names are slightly different, as are the mascots - Salem's is a Tasmanian devil named Sunny and ASU's is an imp in a red body leotard named Sparky.

"When I realized it was for real," Salem's stunned principal, Donald Robertson, has said, "I thought, 'You've got to be kidding me.' "

I found it hard to believe, too. I lived in Arizona for several years and have dealt with ASU officials before. I can't say I ever found them unreasonable.

But when I tried to speak to someone at the college about trademark infringement and whether ASU is issuing cease and desist letters to other schools, a woman in the media relations office said the top spokesmen were out of town.

She sent me the university's official statement, which tersely asserts that "Sun Devils" is a federally registered trademark of ASU, which is "required by federal law to ensure its correct use in order to retain our rights to it."

Hurrah for Robertson, though - the man isn't giving any ground. Instead, the school district wrote to ASU to point out the many differences between the two entities and that there was little likelihood of confusion. They have yet to hear back.

Fight, Salem, fight.

In fact, take the offensive. Use school bake sales and car washes to raise money for a legal defense fund to stop the ASU steamroller in its tracks, and to set a precedent for other high schools or sports teams out there that are receiving similar cease and desists, or may soon be.

In fact, in a cursory online search I found several other schools using the name "Sundevils" or "Sun Devils," including two in California and a ritzy prep school in Colorado.

I also found the name in use by rugby and field hockey teams in British Columbia, a swimming club in New Zealand and an American-style football team on the south coast of England.

Looks like ASU can expect a full play roster for its legal team.

I can appreciate ASU officials being proud and even a little possessive of their Sun Devils and everything the name stands for.

And there's much affection for the sun devil himself - Sparky - who seems to appear everywhere, leering in his vaguely unsettling way as he scampers about with his pitchfork.

The only time officials seemed a little ashamed of the little dickens was in 1987 when the pope came to town to celebrate Mass in Sun Devils Stadium and poor Sparky had to be covered up with yellow bunting.

But that was an anomaly. Sparky happily lends his name to ASU in various official ways: the "Sparky Swim Camp," "Sparky's Touchdown Tailgates," "Sparky's Kids to College" field trips and programs, "Sparky's Spotlights" to profile individual ASU athletes, and the "Sparky" awards to honor them.

You can even book Sparky as a live mascot to appear at your next event.

As you can imagine, Sparky is a popular brand name and thus protected by federal trademark.

But not - as you might expect - by ASU.

The name "Sparky" is trademarked and owned by the National Fire Protection Association, or the NFPA, headquartered in Quincy, Mass. They assign it to their own mascot: a Dalmatian.

As soon as I dug this information up, I called NFPA's president to ask if he intends to send ASU a cease and desist order.

But Jim Shannon just chuckled. "If it would help you guys (at Salem), we'd love to," said Shannon, formerly a consumer and civil rights advocate, Massachusetts attorney general and congressman. "But I don't think it would be realistic."

And, he added, "it would be ungenerous. And maybe they (at ASU) should think about trying not to be ungenerous."

Shannon's take is simple:

His Sparky is a spotted dog dressed in firefighting gear. ASU's Sparky is a devil's imp in a body suit.

Shannon isn't worried about mix-ups because it would be about as hard to mistake these two mascots as it would be to mistake a red imp with, for instance, a Tasmanian devil.

Or a mammoth college football franchise with a little high school team nearly a continent away.

"Is anybody really going to be confused?" Shannon asks.

See, ASU? This is what common sense sounds like. This is what not being ungenerous sounds like. Please try it. And leave Salem alone. Or stick Sparky with a pitchfork - he's done.

Tamara Dietrich can be reached at tdietrich@dailypress.com or 247-7892.